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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26695144">Cold Case</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftishere/pseuds/swiftishere'>swiftishere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>MSA AU Bin [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mystery Skulls Animated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Detectives, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, Light Hurt/Comfort, Medium!Arthur (Mystery Skulls Animated), homicide investigation! yay!, im about to spam the msa tag and i apologize in advance, the actual homicide doesn't actually play into it that much, the actual vithur is super super vague and tbh i wrote it as them just being good friends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:55:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>483</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26695144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/swiftishere/pseuds/swiftishere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur and Vivi are a duo of detectives, using Arthur's powers as a medium to help solve murder cases. This one has proven to be... more challenging than most, and Vivi's growing concerned about her partner's waning strength.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arthur &amp; Vivi (Mystery Skulls Animated), Arthur/Vivi (Mystery Skulls Animated)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>MSA AU Bin [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942603</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cold Case</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>was originally part of the au bin collection fic. i'm splitting everything up</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Maybe we should… let this one go,” says Vivi, focusing intently on her coffee instead of the man across from her. </p>
<p>“Let- <em>what</em>?” She can’t see Arthur’s face, but the surprise is evident in his voice. “But we’re- we’re <em>close</em>! I <em>know</em> we are!” </p>
<p>“I know,” (she doesn’t, she’s only taking him on faith that he’s made some progress with the ghost, for all she knows they’re still at square one) “but- I just think…” and she finally looks up, properly looks Arthur in the eye. Immediately he looks away, but she doesn’t need him to face her to see what she’s looking for. He’s <em>exhausted</em>, has been for a while now. Drained from days of barely sleeping as this ghost relentlessly bombards him with visions and fragmented messages. </p>
<p>Every case they get, they have to reassess how hard it’s going to be on him, how strong and clear the lingering victim is and how long it’s going to take to get a proper answer out of them. Sometimes it’s easy, the rare occasions where whole sentences make it through and he can just recite a name and method of murder. Other times, the spirit is barely hanging on to this world and they have to piece together vague images and words into something resembling a conclusion. </p>
<p>This has turned out to be one of the latter ones, and the worst part is, the victim’s word is all they have to go on. Whoever committed this murder was damn thorough in their cleanup, and were it not for the soul hanging on after death it’d have long been declared a cold case. So effectively, without being able to analyze mundane evidence, she’s useless until Arthur gives her something to work off of. </p>
<p>She doesn’t like giving up, and she knows he doesn’t either, but she’s also not about to sacrifice her partner’s sanity for one case. </p>
<p>“I just think this is above our pay grade,” she says finally, not really sure how to put all her thoughts into words. “I mean, anyone else would have abandoned this thing weeks ago.” </p>
<p>Arthur seems to understand what she’s trying to say - of course he does, how long have they been working together for? They’ve long gotten used to interpreting each other - and he sighs, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t… I don’t think I can do that. Give up. It’s…” he rubs his face with his hand. “You can’t <em>hear </em>him. He’s so <em>alone</em>, trapped in that fucking in-between place, and he’s been fighting <em>so hard</em> just to be <em>heard</em>. Because- whatever did this? Is still out there, and he doesn’t… he doesn’t want to just let that go, not when this could happen again. And neither do I.” </p>
<p>She still frowns. “I know, but… are you sure <em>you’re</em> going to be okay?” </p>
<p>He offers her a weak smile. “Yeah. I’m used to this.”</p>
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